Hope makes things bright.
Faith makes things possible.
Love makes things easy.
Faith makes things possible.
Love makes things easy.
Sep 26, 2010
Sep 19, 2010
DO IT ANYWAY
DO IT ANYWAY Written By Mother Theresa People are often unreasonable, illogical,
and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you
of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.If you are successful, you will win some
false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.What you spend years building, someone
could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.You see, in the final analysis,
it is between you and God;It was never between you and them anyway
Sep 12, 2010
Desire For Discussions
At times, I feel my desire more strongly than ever. The desire to just have someone who can discuss theology (and other stuff) with me regularly. Ironically, people from church are often not the ones you'll seek for such conversations. They're either too busy, or not interested, or both. At times, it's not even to have a 2-way discussions. It's just someone who is willing to listen when I am excited over something I've learnt and can't wait to share (which tend to be rather often). And I look around, too bad, nobody's interested. So I sigh, pack everything in and close the door.
The desire for such intellectual conversations yet having nobody with similar interests does make one feel weird, lonely and perplexed. That's one reason why hanging out with my Psychies is such a different and enjoyable experience. Never once did we not dwell into deeper discussions on human behaviors. On the table each contributes her specialty knowledge and experience. We may not have solved any world problems, but at least one person leaves the table intellectually satisfied. The intellect has given and received, and thus satisfied.
Reminds me of a discussion I was having with a research fellow. We could talk for hours. 2 kindred spirits. And together we discovered a similar social problem we face. We find it hard to engage in conversation with others at times. TV shows don't interest us, definitely not korean shows. We try to avoid gossips whenever we can, or whenever we are conscious of it. Take these two out and you'll find it hard to engage in 'normal' conversations. It's either us educating them, or them educating us. Seldom is there mutual exchange of knowledge, viewpoints or pondering over alternatives; in short, seldom is there conversation or discussion.
Sigh.
The desire for such intellectual conversations yet having nobody with similar interests does make one feel weird, lonely and perplexed. That's one reason why hanging out with my Psychies is such a different and enjoyable experience. Never once did we not dwell into deeper discussions on human behaviors. On the table each contributes her specialty knowledge and experience. We may not have solved any world problems, but at least one person leaves the table intellectually satisfied. The intellect has given and received, and thus satisfied.
Reminds me of a discussion I was having with a research fellow. We could talk for hours. 2 kindred spirits. And together we discovered a similar social problem we face. We find it hard to engage in conversation with others at times. TV shows don't interest us, definitely not korean shows. We try to avoid gossips whenever we can, or whenever we are conscious of it. Take these two out and you'll find it hard to engage in 'normal' conversations. It's either us educating them, or them educating us. Seldom is there mutual exchange of knowledge, viewpoints or pondering over alternatives; in short, seldom is there conversation or discussion.
Sigh.
Sep 11, 2010
What karate has taught me
Was watching Karate Kid and it reminds me of the many things that karate has taught me.
Never before I have pushed my physical body to its limits till I puke within 15 mins of training. But it also demonstrates to me what my physical body is actually capable of if I set my mind to it. Often we place limits on ourselves, thinking that's the max we can do; not knowing our real limits are actually much higher than what we think. To simply concentrate on doing needs to be done, and not how tired you are. To focus and just concentrate on getting through the next second, truly taking the mind off the self.
I tasted what raw, primitive fear feels like, when you're out there on the mat facing your opponent, and she is out to get you. But you face off your fear. Really scared, but you still stand there in the mat. It doesn't stop the fear, but it stops it from dictating what you do.
I tasted what true focus is like. The one and only time I really focused is when I was sparring with my friend for a referee course. The one and only time I was truly sparring with my whole concentration, when my body reacts faster than I think. Even my sensei was impressed that I was wholly into it. But that took many rounds for me to "get into the flow"... and trust. To be able to trust my friend and so it helps me to abandon my natural fear about being hurt. I was amazed what I can do, but I wonder if I can ever get into that state again. The true meaning of being still, which is different from doing nothing. Where the mind and heart is still and focused.
Definitely I learn pain, and continuing despite the pain. Blocking moves is actually a very painful thing, despite what you see on the shows. But to discipline yourself to move on despite the pain. I've seen a little boy sparring, tearing because of pain yet continuing. That 5 years old boy earned the respect of everybody that day.
These have actually helped in my own spiritual walk. I learn to be still. I learn obedience. I learn not to wallow in pain and self-pity. I learn to trust others when I am not able to trust myself. I learn to focus on what's important and not the self. I learn to refuse fear from dictating what I do. I learn to do despite what I feel because it is necessary. I learn not to trust what I think my limits are but to push on. I learn self-control and respect for others.
Never before I have pushed my physical body to its limits till I puke within 15 mins of training. But it also demonstrates to me what my physical body is actually capable of if I set my mind to it. Often we place limits on ourselves, thinking that's the max we can do; not knowing our real limits are actually much higher than what we think. To simply concentrate on doing needs to be done, and not how tired you are. To focus and just concentrate on getting through the next second, truly taking the mind off the self.
I tasted what raw, primitive fear feels like, when you're out there on the mat facing your opponent, and she is out to get you. But you face off your fear. Really scared, but you still stand there in the mat. It doesn't stop the fear, but it stops it from dictating what you do.
I tasted what true focus is like. The one and only time I really focused is when I was sparring with my friend for a referee course. The one and only time I was truly sparring with my whole concentration, when my body reacts faster than I think. Even my sensei was impressed that I was wholly into it. But that took many rounds for me to "get into the flow"... and trust. To be able to trust my friend and so it helps me to abandon my natural fear about being hurt. I was amazed what I can do, but I wonder if I can ever get into that state again. The true meaning of being still, which is different from doing nothing. Where the mind and heart is still and focused.
Definitely I learn pain, and continuing despite the pain. Blocking moves is actually a very painful thing, despite what you see on the shows. But to discipline yourself to move on despite the pain. I've seen a little boy sparring, tearing because of pain yet continuing. That 5 years old boy earned the respect of everybody that day.
These have actually helped in my own spiritual walk. I learn to be still. I learn obedience. I learn not to wallow in pain and self-pity. I learn to trust others when I am not able to trust myself. I learn to focus on what's important and not the self. I learn to refuse fear from dictating what I do. I learn to do despite what I feel because it is necessary. I learn not to trust what I think my limits are but to push on. I learn self-control and respect for others.
Sep 10, 2010
Grazing on God
extracted from http://pastor.resourcesforyourministry.org/2010/09/09/grazing-on-god-part-3/
Our reading should be toward relishing God, delighting in Him, gazing at His beauty, as David said (Psalm 27:4). When we approach God in that way, it inclines us to want more of Him. “I have tasted Thee,” Augustine said, “and now I hunger for Thee.” There’s no need to worry about texts that we don’t understand. Some meanings will escape us. Everything difficult indicates something more than our hearts can yet embrace. As Jesus said to His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (John 16:12). There’s much that we will never know, but some of the hard questions will be answered when we’re ready for them.
God can never be understood through the intellect. Insight arises from purity of heart—from love, humility, and a desire to obey. It’s the pure in heart who see God, Jesus said (Matthew 5:8). The more of God’s truth we know and want to obey, the more we know. As George MacDonald said, “The words of the Lord are seeds sown in our hearts by the sower. They have to fall into our hearts to grow. Meditation and prayer must water them and obedience keep them in the light. Thus they will bear fruit for the Lord’s gathering.”
Nor should we worry about our doubts. How could God possibly reveal Himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt?
Madeleine L’Engle said, “Those who believe they believe in God . . . without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God
himself.”
Uncertainty is the name of the game. The best thing is to take our questionings and doubts directly to God, as David often did. His psalms are filled with discomfort and disagreement with God’s ways. He fills page after page with confusion and disbelief. It’s good to do so. God can handle our hesitancy.
Sometimes we’re mentally dull or emotionally flat, weary, and tired. On such occasions it’s worthless to try to make ourselves think more deeply or respond more intensely. If the value of our times alone with God depends on our emotional state, we will always be troubled. We should never worry about how we feel. Even when our minds are confused or our hearts are cold, we can learn from our solitude. Don’t try to make your heart love God. Just give it to Him.
If we’re having a hard time with God, if we don’t yet trust His heart, we should read the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There we hear what Jesus said and did and what was said about Him. There we
see Him making visible the invisible God. When Philip, Jesus’ disciple, asked to see God, Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9).
The main use of the Gospels is to help us see the character of God made real, personal, and understandable in Jesus. What we see Jesus doing—caring, suffering, weeping, calling, seeking—is what God is doing and has been doing all along. If you can’t love God, try to see Him in Jesus. There He’s revealed as One who has no limits to His love; One to whom we can come with all our doubts, disappointments, and misjudgments; One “whom we can approach without fear and to whom we can submit ourselves without despair,” as Blaise Pascal said. In the Gospels we see that God is the only God worth having.
As we listen to God, we should answer. This is prayer—our response to the revelation and unfolding of God’s heart. “My God, Thy creature answers Thee,” said the French poet Mussett. Prayer, understood in that way, is an extension of our visits with God rather than something tacked on.
Our meetings with God are like a polite conversation with a friend. They’re not monologues in which one person does all the talking but dialogues in which we listen thoughtfully to one another’s self-disclosure and then respond.
God can be known even through “the cloud of unknowing” by responding to Him with “just a little word . . . the shorter it is the better.”
Prayer is worship. Our praying should be full of adoration, affection, and fondness for God—that He is who He is; that He created us in order to have someone on whom He could shower His love; that He stretched out His arms on the cross; that He intends, in the fullest sense, to make whole men and women out of us. In worship, as the old word worth-ship implies, we declare what we value the most. It is one of the best ways in the world to love God.
Prayer is the highest expression of our dependence on God. It is asking for what we want. We can ask for anything—even the most difficult things. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer
and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Anything large enough to occupy our minds is large enough to hang a prayer on.
Prayer, however, by its nature is requesting. It is not insisting or clamoring. We can make no demands of God or deals with Him. Furthermore, we’re coming to a friend. Friends don’t make demands. They ask and then
wait. We wait with patience and submission until God gives us what we request—or something more.
Prayer is asking for understanding. It is the means by which we comprehend what God is saying to us in His Word. The process by which we gain awareness of His mind is not natural, but supernatural: spiritual things are discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:6–16). There is truth that can never be grasped by the human intellect. It cannot be discovered; it must be disclosed. Certainly we can understand the facts in the Bible apart from God’s help, but we can never plumb its depths, never fully appreciate “what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We must pray and wait for truth to come honestly into our minds.
Prayer moves what we know from our heads to our hearts; it’s our hedge against hypocrisy, the way by which we begin to ring true. Our perceptions of truth are always ahead of our condition. Prayer brings us
more into conformity; it bridges the gap between what we know and what we are.
Prayer focuses and unites our fragmented hearts. We have a thousand necessities. It’s impossible for us to purify them and simplify them and integrate them into one. David prayed: “Give me an undivided heart” (Psalm 86:11). He wanted to love God with his whole soul, but he couldn’t sustain the effort. Other interests and affections pulled him and divided him, so he asked God to guard his heart and unite its affections into one.
Psalm 90:14 says,
Centering on God has to be done each morning as though it had never been done before. In that quiet place He comforts us, He instructs us, He listens to us, He prepares our hearts and strengthens us for the day.
There we learn to love Him and worship Him again; we esteem His words and defer to Him once more; we get His fresh perspective on the problems and possibilities of our day.
Then we should take His presence with us all through the day—journeying, pausing, waiting, listening, recalling what He said to us in the morning. He is our teacher, our philosopher, our friend; our gentlest, kindest, most interesting companion.
In God’s presence there is satisfaction: His lush meadows are boundless; His still water runs deep. “There,” I say to myself “[I] will lie down in good grazing land, and there [I] will feed in a rich pasture” (Ezekiel 34:14).
Our reading should be toward relishing God, delighting in Him, gazing at His beauty, as David said (Psalm 27:4). When we approach God in that way, it inclines us to want more of Him. “I have tasted Thee,” Augustine said, “and now I hunger for Thee.” There’s no need to worry about texts that we don’t understand. Some meanings will escape us. Everything difficult indicates something more than our hearts can yet embrace. As Jesus said to His disciples, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear” (John 16:12). There’s much that we will never know, but some of the hard questions will be answered when we’re ready for them.
God can never be understood through the intellect. Insight arises from purity of heart—from love, humility, and a desire to obey. It’s the pure in heart who see God, Jesus said (Matthew 5:8). The more of God’s truth we know and want to obey, the more we know. As George MacDonald said, “The words of the Lord are seeds sown in our hearts by the sower. They have to fall into our hearts to grow. Meditation and prayer must water them and obedience keep them in the light. Thus they will bear fruit for the Lord’s gathering.”
Nor should we worry about our doubts. How could God possibly reveal Himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt?
Madeleine L’Engle said, “Those who believe they believe in God . . . without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God
himself.”
Uncertainty is the name of the game. The best thing is to take our questionings and doubts directly to God, as David often did. His psalms are filled with discomfort and disagreement with God’s ways. He fills page after page with confusion and disbelief. It’s good to do so. God can handle our hesitancy.
Sometimes we’re mentally dull or emotionally flat, weary, and tired. On such occasions it’s worthless to try to make ourselves think more deeply or respond more intensely. If the value of our times alone with God depends on our emotional state, we will always be troubled. We should never worry about how we feel. Even when our minds are confused or our hearts are cold, we can learn from our solitude. Don’t try to make your heart love God. Just give it to Him.
If we’re having a hard time with God, if we don’t yet trust His heart, we should read the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There we hear what Jesus said and did and what was said about Him. There we
see Him making visible the invisible God. When Philip, Jesus’ disciple, asked to see God, Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9).
The main use of the Gospels is to help us see the character of God made real, personal, and understandable in Jesus. What we see Jesus doing—caring, suffering, weeping, calling, seeking—is what God is doing and has been doing all along. If you can’t love God, try to see Him in Jesus. There He’s revealed as One who has no limits to His love; One to whom we can come with all our doubts, disappointments, and misjudgments; One “whom we can approach without fear and to whom we can submit ourselves without despair,” as Blaise Pascal said. In the Gospels we see that God is the only God worth having.
As we listen to God, we should answer. This is prayer—our response to the revelation and unfolding of God’s heart. “My God, Thy creature answers Thee,” said the French poet Mussett. Prayer, understood in that way, is an extension of our visits with God rather than something tacked on.
Our meetings with God are like a polite conversation with a friend. They’re not monologues in which one person does all the talking but dialogues in which we listen thoughtfully to one another’s self-disclosure and then respond.
God can be known even through “the cloud of unknowing” by responding to Him with “just a little word . . . the shorter it is the better.”
Prayer is worship. Our praying should be full of adoration, affection, and fondness for God—that He is who He is; that He created us in order to have someone on whom He could shower His love; that He stretched out His arms on the cross; that He intends, in the fullest sense, to make whole men and women out of us. In worship, as the old word worth-ship implies, we declare what we value the most. It is one of the best ways in the world to love God.
Prayer is the highest expression of our dependence on God. It is asking for what we want. We can ask for anything—even the most difficult things. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer
and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Anything large enough to occupy our minds is large enough to hang a prayer on.
Prayer, however, by its nature is requesting. It is not insisting or clamoring. We can make no demands of God or deals with Him. Furthermore, we’re coming to a friend. Friends don’t make demands. They ask and then
wait. We wait with patience and submission until God gives us what we request—or something more.
Prayer is asking for understanding. It is the means by which we comprehend what God is saying to us in His Word. The process by which we gain awareness of His mind is not natural, but supernatural: spiritual things are discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:6–16). There is truth that can never be grasped by the human intellect. It cannot be discovered; it must be disclosed. Certainly we can understand the facts in the Bible apart from God’s help, but we can never plumb its depths, never fully appreciate “what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We must pray and wait for truth to come honestly into our minds.
Prayer moves what we know from our heads to our hearts; it’s our hedge against hypocrisy, the way by which we begin to ring true. Our perceptions of truth are always ahead of our condition. Prayer brings us
more into conformity; it bridges the gap between what we know and what we are.
Prayer focuses and unites our fragmented hearts. We have a thousand necessities. It’s impossible for us to purify them and simplify them and integrate them into one. David prayed: “Give me an undivided heart” (Psalm 86:11). He wanted to love God with his whole soul, but he couldn’t sustain the effort. Other interests and affections pulled him and divided him, so he asked God to guard his heart and unite its affections into one.
Psalm 90:14 says,
Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Centering on God has to be done each morning as though it had never been done before. In that quiet place He comforts us, He instructs us, He listens to us, He prepares our hearts and strengthens us for the day.
There we learn to love Him and worship Him again; we esteem His words and defer to Him once more; we get His fresh perspective on the problems and possibilities of our day.
Then we should take His presence with us all through the day—journeying, pausing, waiting, listening, recalling what He said to us in the morning. He is our teacher, our philosopher, our friend; our gentlest, kindest, most interesting companion.
In God’s presence there is satisfaction: His lush meadows are boundless; His still water runs deep. “There,” I say to myself “[I] will lie down in good grazing land, and there [I] will feed in a rich pasture” (Ezekiel 34:14).
Sep 9, 2010
Only He can satisfy
The many longings that we have and seek to satisfy through our interpersonal relationships are actually longings for something much bigger. They are natural longings and desires for our Creator, and only when we recognize that can we stop trying to quench these aches through other humans. No humans are good enough to be able to really satisfy us. People will disappoint. Nobody can know you to the extent that you desire. Leaders/mentors will not be able to give you the approval and pat on the head that you need, especially as you become older because you are perceived to have supposedly outgrown that.
Yet deep within us (at least for me), I long for another human being (not necessarily a partner, but just a good friend or mentor) who can know all that I have been through, most of my thoughts and emotions. We get a sense of childlike happiness when our superiors acknowledge our efforts and praise us for a job well done; disgruntled subtly when we do not get the approval. But recently I learnt that these longings are very real, and not wrong, because they are longings created in our nature, for God wants us to seek Him.
When we hope/expect other human beings to satisfy these desires in us, we will be disappointed. Nobody can know us as well as God. Nobody can be constantly with us except God. Nobody is capable enough to give us the attention and companionship for as long and deep as we desire. Nobody is strong enough to love so hard to be able to satisfy the our strong need for love. Nobody is perfect or saintly enough to really truly and honestly see all that we are and accept every bit of us. Nobody is patient enough to refuse to keep away and just keep forgiving and picking us up after our repeated failures/mistakes. No other approval or praise is sweet enough to satisfy the little child within all of us.
I struggled and prayed for release. But release only came I stop fighting and I see them for what they truly are and pray for God to satisfy. And released I am because they are satisfied.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The unexplainable craving deep within
Driving me to actions I despise
Yet uncontrollable I am to me
Disgust and hatred I have for me
The many small acts that I do
For that approval or praise from higher up
Or the acceptance and acknowledge from those around
Yet never truly receiving or satisfying
The desire to just share it all
The need for someone to know me deep
Yet nobody can ever know to that extent
That quench the thirst and loneliness
Pray hard and long for God to come
To remove these aches in my heart
Deceitful and despicable I view them
To be shunned far and wide
God came and whispered to me
The desires are real and not sins at all
But the sources of satisfaction you have sought
Very wrong and cannot appease
In confusion I still my soul
In mediation I seek for light
And in the darkness I find the quest
A small still voice that says only He satisfies
With revelation I changed my sight
Not for elimination but for fulfillment
And with His presence He graced my thirsts
And in Him are all the approval, love, intimacy and acceptance that I need.
Yet deep within us (at least for me), I long for another human being (not necessarily a partner, but just a good friend or mentor) who can know all that I have been through, most of my thoughts and emotions. We get a sense of childlike happiness when our superiors acknowledge our efforts and praise us for a job well done; disgruntled subtly when we do not get the approval. But recently I learnt that these longings are very real, and not wrong, because they are longings created in our nature, for God wants us to seek Him.
When we hope/expect other human beings to satisfy these desires in us, we will be disappointed. Nobody can know us as well as God. Nobody can be constantly with us except God. Nobody is capable enough to give us the attention and companionship for as long and deep as we desire. Nobody is strong enough to love so hard to be able to satisfy the our strong need for love. Nobody is perfect or saintly enough to really truly and honestly see all that we are and accept every bit of us. Nobody is patient enough to refuse to keep away and just keep forgiving and picking us up after our repeated failures/mistakes. No other approval or praise is sweet enough to satisfy the little child within all of us.
I struggled and prayed for release. But release only came I stop fighting and I see them for what they truly are and pray for God to satisfy. And released I am because they are satisfied.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The unexplainable craving deep within
Driving me to actions I despise
Yet uncontrollable I am to me
Disgust and hatred I have for me
The many small acts that I do
For that approval or praise from higher up
Or the acceptance and acknowledge from those around
Yet never truly receiving or satisfying
The desire to just share it all
The need for someone to know me deep
Yet nobody can ever know to that extent
That quench the thirst and loneliness
Pray hard and long for God to come
To remove these aches in my heart
Deceitful and despicable I view them
To be shunned far and wide
God came and whispered to me
The desires are real and not sins at all
But the sources of satisfaction you have sought
Very wrong and cannot appease
In confusion I still my soul
In mediation I seek for light
And in the darkness I find the quest
A small still voice that says only He satisfies
With revelation I changed my sight
Not for elimination but for fulfillment
And with His presence He graced my thirsts
And in Him are all the approval, love, intimacy and acceptance that I need.
Sep 3, 2010
At the end, there's only Love
I have been mulling over how people can go to extremes just for money, when it becomes more important than conscience and peace till it simply takes over the person. I felt a tinge of incomprehensible because I am not motivated by it; at the end of the day, money accumulates till a threshold when it becomes real meaningless as it's just a nice looking number on your bank statement. Then I digressed to how people can also be motivated by power, status and influence. This I can comprehend better, but it also felt to me that it'll also get to a point where all these become meaningless. Worse, with status and influence comes reputation and awe from people, but it also comes with responsibilities and greater accountability. Even family can amount to little because if you truly love them, you cannot hold on to them because they need space to grow and become the persons they truly are, be it children or younger siblings. Even family is not something you can hold on to till the end. At this point I was starting to feel disillusioned. I wondered if finally I am growing up and becoming a part of the adult world, abandoning the idealistic child in me. Is it really all there is in the 'real' world - emptiness and working towards/for no meanings?
There was this sense of passivity and lack-of-drive. I'm not motivated by money. I'm not particularly competitive, and increasingly less so as time passes. There's no sense of ambition ever since I surrendered my ambition back to God. When I seriously think about these worldly things, their meaningless just became obvious. As I was dwelling on this little thought (and not exactly very happy about it), suddenly it just dawned on me that as you strip away all these, there's only 1 thing left at the core that remains standing... Love. The ultimate Love manifested in and by Christ. The love that God has for me and every single individual that is simply beyond words.
I was walking when this revelation came. I was so in awe that I nearly stopped in my tracks. I felt so humbled by His love. There's a sense of indescribable joy that just flowed from deep within. I came to really understand that if you truly know how much God loves, obedience and trust are very natural responses to Him. His yoke is light because all you do are just natural responses to His love. I came to really appreciate in my heart (not just understand in my mind) why Solomon can write what he wrote in Ecclesiastes. I came to also truly understand how Paul can count all things as loss compared to knowing Christ. In view of His love, all things become so trivial. It's like in the light of His greatness and majestic love for us, the diamond naturally pales and look just like what it is - a stone. At the end of the day, all that can withstand the test of time is really the ultimate Love.
Words amount to little without actual experience. Through my sharing, may God reveal to you too what I felt and partake with me in the awesome experience.
God loves each of us so much that all He asks is for you to believe that He exists, and He loves you so much that He has done everything in His capability for a reconciliation.
There was this sense of passivity and lack-of-drive. I'm not motivated by money. I'm not particularly competitive, and increasingly less so as time passes. There's no sense of ambition ever since I surrendered my ambition back to God. When I seriously think about these worldly things, their meaningless just became obvious. As I was dwelling on this little thought (and not exactly very happy about it), suddenly it just dawned on me that as you strip away all these, there's only 1 thing left at the core that remains standing... Love. The ultimate Love manifested in and by Christ. The love that God has for me and every single individual that is simply beyond words.
I was walking when this revelation came. I was so in awe that I nearly stopped in my tracks. I felt so humbled by His love. There's a sense of indescribable joy that just flowed from deep within. I came to really understand that if you truly know how much God loves, obedience and trust are very natural responses to Him. His yoke is light because all you do are just natural responses to His love. I came to really appreciate in my heart (not just understand in my mind) why Solomon can write what he wrote in Ecclesiastes. I came to also truly understand how Paul can count all things as loss compared to knowing Christ. In view of His love, all things become so trivial. It's like in the light of His greatness and majestic love for us, the diamond naturally pales and look just like what it is - a stone. At the end of the day, all that can withstand the test of time is really the ultimate Love.
Words amount to little without actual experience. Through my sharing, may God reveal to you too what I felt and partake with me in the awesome experience.
God loves each of us so much that all He asks is for you to believe that He exists, and He loves you so much that He has done everything in His capability for a reconciliation.
Aug 17, 2010
A person hard to offend
Lord,
Let me be a person who is hard to offend.
Let me be forgiving, understanding and thoughtful towards all I interact with.
Let me be able to appreciate the importance of having different perspectives.
Let me be slow to anger and quick to forgive, just like You.
Let me not make any rash judgments or act in anything that is not out of a spirit of love.
All in all, let me be a child of light, worthy of Your name.
Amen.
Let me be a person who is hard to offend.
Let me be forgiving, understanding and thoughtful towards all I interact with.
Let me be able to appreciate the importance of having different perspectives.
Let me be slow to anger and quick to forgive, just like You.
Let me not make any rash judgments or act in anything that is not out of a spirit of love.
All in all, let me be a child of light, worthy of Your name.
Amen.
Aug 10, 2010
Testimony of a world-renowned geneticist
Testimony of the geneticist (Francis Collins) who heads the Human Genome Project; despite being a man of Science, he is also a man of faith. Science complements, not reject, because all creations reflect the glory and majesty of the Creator.
Aug 6, 2010
freedom from approval & insecurity
most common mental aberration:
I must always win the approval of others for my performances, or else I am a rotten person.
I do not need to strive to win the approval of anybody in what I do or say as long as my heart is right and God approves. I strive to be approved by God, and not Man. I will still do the wrong things for I am just another mortal, but I will always be loved and cared for by God for He is love. Be quick to admit and acknowledge my faults, my mistakes and become a better person from it.
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I must always win the approval of others for my performances, or else I am a rotten person.
I do not need to strive to win the approval of anybody in what I do or say as long as my heart is right and God approves. I strive to be approved by God, and not Man. I will still do the wrong things for I am just another mortal, but I will always be loved and cared for by God for He is love. Be quick to admit and acknowledge my faults, my mistakes and become a better person from it.
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Growth takes time. We must be patient with God while He brings it about. As we learn truth we will develop a mindset that will reduce our emotional reactions to threat. As our hearts become increasingly convinced that God loves us unconditionally and wants to meet our needs, we will find ourselves less inclined to react emotionally to indifference, criticism, or rebuke.
A secure person is less likely to have an adrenaline surge when a client complains about her performance. The person who realizes that God is sovereign and controls all the details of life is less likely to get angry at rush-hour traffic. Men and women who know they are in God’s grip can be patient and calm in the face of terror and intimidation.
We will fall. As C. S. Lewis pointed out, we will be very dirty children by the time we get home. The only fatal thing is to give up.
Of course we will fail. Whoever thought otherwise? But no failure is final. God is a God of an infinite number of chances.
http://pastor.resourcesforyourministry.org/2010/08/06/a-lesson-in-anger-management-part-2/
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